Tracked His Sleep & Learned This About Alcohol (insider story)

Tracked His Sleep & Learned This About Alcohol (inside

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Having access to his sleep metrics has led Matt Ystad to change some behaviors; surprisingly, alcohol was one of them.

When Matt and Carrie Ystad bought a Sleep Number bed last year, they never imagined it would make them count more than sheep as they drifted off to sleep. But the mattress the Minneapolis couple purchased came equipped with SleepIQ® technology. Matt quickly became interested in what he could learn from the metrics related to his sleep.

“Sometimes I have a couple of beers before bed,” Matt says. “I definitely saw that it influenced my sleep—and usually not in a good way.”

Sleep Number beds with SleepIQ technology allow users like Matt and Carrie to monitor their Sleep Number setting, biometrics, and sleep times using an app on their phone. The app provides a wealth of information about “last night’s” sleep, and a summary statement at the bottom of the screen provides context to what your metrics mean, making SleepIQ actionable and applicable to your day-to-day life.

Using the app, Matt, a 29-year-old who works in commercial ventilation, discovered that having a few drinks before bed increased his heart rate and breathing.

“It was wild to see the impact reflected in numbers,” he says.

The SleepIQ app provides insights about the night before, including restful sleep, restless sleep and time out of bed. An hourly deep dive breaks down how one night of sleep impacts the entire night. In some cases, you can see how the activities you do during the day impact how you slept the previous night. Furthermore, you can track your sleep score against monthly or historical time variables and learn how to sleep smarter.

Having additional data about his sleep has changed Matt’s behavior. Some nights he chooses to skip a second beer. “Having a couple of casual beers, now I think about that,” Matt says. “I know I won’t get as good of sleep. So maybe I don’t need to have more than one.”

The data has also made Matt interested in improving his SleepIQ scores. “I’m competitive. I want a high score,” he says. “A few nights ago, I think I had my best score ever!”